What is solidarity?

Pope Francis said on a visit to the Varginha favela in Brazil on July 25. “We must never allow the throwaway culture to enter our hearts, because we are brothers and sisters. No one is disposable! Let us always remember this: Only when we are able to share do we become truly rich; everything that is shared is multiplied!”

What is solidarity?  A principle of Catholic Social Teaching certainly!  But how would you describe it? 

Saint John Paul II (1987, Sollicitudo rei socials, n. 38): Solidarity "is not a feeling of vague compassion or shallow distress at the misfortunes of so many people, both near and far. On the contrary, it is a firm and persevering determination to commit oneself to the common good; that is to say to the good of all and of each individual, because we are all really responsible for all."

Pope Francis elaborated on what solidarity really means at the first World Meeting of Popular Movements (28 Oct 2014):
“It means thinking and acting in terms of community, of prioritising the life of all over and above the appropriation of goods by the few. It also means fighting the structural causes of poverty, inequality, unemployment, lack of land and housing, and the denial of social and labour rights. It means facing the destructive effects of the empire of money: forced displacement, painful migration, human trafficking, drugs, war, violence and all these situations that many of you suffer and that we are all called upon to transform. Solidarity, in its deepest sense, is a way of making history and this is what the popular movements do.” Read more at "Pope: Every Worker has the right to fair pay."

Peace & all good,
Andrew Conradi, ofs
National JPIC Co-ordinator, Canada.